BY JEROME HUGHES
IT has been suggested that Letterkenny’s traffic crisis must be addressed ‘head on’ despite the understandable desire of the town’s business community not to give the issue oxygen.
Independent election candidate Declan Jordan says he fully understands that shops don’t want the town to get the ‘no go zone’ label because of traffic but he says ignoring the crisis doesn’t help either.
“It’s effecting our working lives, tourism, and people are avoiding Letterkenny. It used to be a spot that people couldn’t wait to get into,” according to Mr Jordan.
“I get it that businesses don’t want to flag the problem because they don’t want to be impacted. At the same time it has to be addressed. It can’t be ignored,” he added.
The 30 year old Letterkenny man goes a step further, suggesting that mental health can be impacted because the traffic delays people getting home, having a social life, and even reduces the time for exercise.
Mr Jordan is hoping to represent the Letterkenny-Milford Municipal District on Donegal County Council.
Polling stations open tomorrow-week, June 7.
“When I’m landing on the doors, it’s local issues that I’m hearing and not national ones. Immigration, Letterkenny’s infrastructure, Mica, and traffic are among the key issues,” he says.
It’s the first time that the Lismonaghan man has dipped his toe into the tricky world of local politics. This, despite his grandfather being the late Donegal Senator James Larkin. He argues there’s a link between the issues of immigration and housing.
“The government is to blame, not the people coming in. We have a housing crisis. The council hasn’t built a house in 10 years so what did the they expect was going to happen?
“There are people clearly profiting from the circumstances that we’re currently in. People are angry about that. We need better integration locally. That’s what we can do at council level,” insists Mr Jordan.
The young would-be councillor currently serves as Head Porter at Letterkenny University Hospital, where he suggests, “The recruitment freeze is having a massive impact on staff morale and waiting lists.”
“Thank God, as a first-time candidate, I am getting a very good reaction from the people on the ground.
“I think, as an Independent, and a local man, people find it hard to give out to me,” concludes Mr Jordan with a laugh.
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